Jolt Country

The ifMud is accessible through this:

telnet ifmud.port4000.com 4000

And then the telnet BBS I set up 5 or 6 years ago that really does not get used much is also active.

telnet denofiniquity.caltrops.com port 23

Ice Cream Jonsey wrote: Sun Sep 29, 2019 7:42 pm Hardly anyone is on [ifMud] any more, which makes me pretty sad.

What do you expect? This isn't 1986. As soon as you say "telnet" (if their eyes don't glaze over and move on to some other subject) , this requires - if you're not normally doing some form of remote logins in text mode - finding and installing a new program, working in text-only mode, entering DOS, and losing many of the features of Windowing operating systems. Essentially everything you could get from this you can get through an http(s)-based chat server or BBS like this forum.

Just use an actual cost-benefit calculation intentionally the way most people do subconsciously without much thought. What exactly does IfMud "buy" you that justifies the effort and trouble to use it vs. everything else available? The "cost" involved is just too high for the small - perhaps I should say negligible - "benefit" of this service. Thus only the truly dedicated or those who already have a telnet client installed are going to bother.

It's like when I mentioned I found an open-source package I wanted to take a look at and decided as long as I was installing one of the source code management tools I might as well install the other two. Since I was making a time investment already, it's worth spending the minor extra amount to be compatible with probably 100% of any SCM used by any project I might want to investigate in the future.

But if I wasn't interested in programming, and understanding code source bases, I might not have gone to the trouble in the first place.

Ice Cream Jonsey wrote: Sun Sep 29, 2019 7:42 pm
And then the telnet BBS I set up 5 or 6 years ago that really does not get used much is also active.

And to which you got all pissed off when I quoted something there because it would get indexed on Google. What I should have said was "who the fuck cares?" We're not meeting there discussing Presidential assasination plots, trade secrets requiring secrecy, or anything that would either get us in trouble, damage our business if disclosed publicly, or really be of interest to anyone else. And it's troublesome to access and use.

Older equipment and systems become abandoned as newer and more interesting things come out, and only the fanatical or dedicated - and the difference (if any) between the two may be difficult to detetmine - have much interest in them.

Mainframe (and minicomputer) computing was important to a lot of people until PC server systems became so powerful that people could switch from mainframes and minis to PCs for most computing problems. Unless you run certain types of applications such as those requiring "five nines" or better reliability, or very-high usage threshholds (PCs can stand about 30% load before they get locked up; a typical mainframe has no trouble at better than 80% load) in which case mainframes provide unparalleled reliability, scalability, stability, and even cost advantages.

Oh yes, stability. How long does your PC stay running and how often does it have to be rebooted for those ever frequent system upgrades from Microsoft? Uptime for mainframes - time between reboots - can be expressed in years! Even the operating system can be patched while it is still running. PC unreliability is actually dangerous. Published reports tell of how there was a problem in a PC-based weapons system that was supposed to be frequently rebooted, but nobody said how long "frequently" was (once a week? Twice a month? Turns out it was supposed to be rebooted at least once a day). This caused a failure during the Gulf War when the weapons system missed an incoming missile that people died as a result.

Oh yes, cost advantages. A typical IBM z/System might cost $75,000, and can handle the load equivalent to about 1,000 rack-mounted servers, in a box the size of a refrigerator, has three connections (power, internrt, and Fibre Channel if you run more than one) and uses maybe 600 watts of power. Those 1,000 servers will cost maybe $500,000, use 100 kilowatts of electricity and require multiple thousand wires, plus wiring harnesses. The mainframe can be in a typical office while servers have to be in their own room because of the heat generated. Oh, plus huge air conditioning costs. Even with IBM's software licensing charges - which can be avoided by using LINUX for z/System - the mainframe is still a good - if not the only - choice for anyone doing large-scale computing, which is why 100% of the 50 largest banks and insurance companies, among other businesses, continue to use them.

Also, the care and feeding of mainframes require far fewer system administrators than PC server systems for the same amount of wirkload.
In fact it's estimated that at only about 20 large application systems a mainframe can be less expensive than PC server operations. And they can handle alk sorts of workloads. I once worked at a division of Pacific Bell where they used their DMS-100 also as a network drive for sharing files, with the software driver it looked exactly like the "D:" drive (similar to a NAS or Dropbox today). While a DMS-100 is a large computer, that's not what people usually buy it for. It's a telephone switch, used either as a PBX or as a tekephione company Central Office.

If mainframe computing wasn't such a fantastic value proposition over PC-based servers, for larger workloads, nobody would put up with the really difficult-to-use IBM mainframe software and the trouble and effort it requires.

But only those familiar with those type systems would know these facts.

Tdarcos wrote: Mon Sep 30, 2019 5:46 am

Ice Cream Jonsey wrote: Sun Sep 29, 2019 7:42 pm Hardly anyone is on [ifMud] any more, which makes me pretty sad.

What do you expect? This isn't 1986.

I had no expectations. But sometimes things can make us sad regardless of what our expectations going into it are.

this requires - if you're not normally doing some form of remote logins in text mode - finding and installing a new program, working in text-only mode, entering DOS, and losing many of the features of Windowing operating systems. Essentially everything you could get from this you can get through an http(s)-based chat server or BBS like this forum.

Which was not a problem for the dozens of people that used to go to the ifMud.

It's like when I mentioned I found an open-source package I wanted to take a look at and decided as long as I was installing one of the source code management tools I might as well install the other two.

What is this - what does this have to do with ... um

And to which you got all pissed off when I quoted something there because it would get indexed on Google.

I forgot about that! Right, that was insanely autistic and socially inappropriate behavior on your part. Because if you had something to say you could have said it on the fucking telnet BBS, as the whole point was to get people to use the telnet BBS, not come running here for replies.

(PCs can stand about 30% load before they get locked up; a typical mainframe has no trouble at better than 80% load) in which case mainframes provide unparalleled reliability, scalability, stability, and even cost advantages.

Is that right? PCs can stand 30% "load" before they "lock up"? You sure about that? You real positive that's the way it is?

Apparently I have a user (Pinback) on the telnet BBS, but don't remember/know the password, and the thing where it emails you doesn't work. Can you reset my password bruh

pinback wrote: Mon Sep 30, 2019 6:40 am Apparently I have a user (Pinback) on the telnet BBS, but don't remember/know the password, and the thing where it emails you doesn't work. Can you reset my password bruh

^ same for me, por favor. Except my user account is not Pinback, it's Jack Flack.

Are you still planning to bring back the original JC as a telnet BBS eventually? It'd be really cool to browse the old messages and file bases. I'll be sure to check out Den of Iniquity soon, but please tell me it isn't a stock Synchronet board. Those things are the bane of my online BBSing existence. Nothing against Synchronet as software -- it's great -- but way too many people set up Synchronet boards as a project and proceed to do absolutely nothing with them. There's just board after board that looks exactly the same and has absolutely nothing going on -- no messages, no files, no games. Synchronet by default also asks for way too much information from new users. I basically stopped visiting new BBSes when I couldn't answer the question, "Why did I just give some random French guy the ability to dox me anytime he wants?" I think I need to create a synthetic identity just to BBS with. My fake birthday is probably going to be July 7th, 1977 (7-7-77 would be easy to remember), but if anyone has some fake names, locations, addresses, and phone numbers to suggest I'd love to hear them.

The main problem with modern BBSing isn't that BBSes don't still serve a purpose and aren't still fun. They're great at what they do and are still totally fun to use. No, the problem is actually that everyone wants to be a Sysop and no one wants to be a user. I think that's kind of what happened here too...didn't Jonsey start his telnet BBS first only to have Pinback and Flack proceed to start their own? So you went from a situation where there was one BBS, one Sysop, and two potential users to one where there were three BBSes, three Sysops, and no users. Sysops can be users on other BBSes to be sure, but you know deep down they'd always rather be on their own BBS and running the show. Unfortunately, a BBS that doesn't have active users has empty forums, empty chats, and no one playing door games which is pretty sad and all too typical. By the way, we should totally start a Trotting Krips telnet BBS. We could have text adventures as door games and text adventures as downloads and text adventures as topics for discussion on the forums. No way that'd be another virtual ghost town, right?

I mostly used dial in bbs's to download warez at 9600 baud, now that's a useless endeavor.

bryanb wrote: Mon Sep 30, 2019 5:37 pmI think I need to create a synthetic identity just to BBS with. My fake birthday is probably going to be July 7th, 1977 (7-7-77 would be easy to remember), but if anyone has some fake names, locations, addresses, and phone numbers to suggest I'd love to hear them.

I typically use my sister's birth date, which is close to mine and a real date so it's easy to remember.

As for addresses, I tend to use 9001 NW 23rd street in Oklahoma City. As a kid, I remember the Blues Brothers used 1060 W. Addison as their address (which is actually Wrigley Field). I wanted to come up with something similar that I could remember, and so 9001 NW 23rd is right in the middle of a lake near my old house. It has an added bit of fun -- if you're actually in the area and enter that address into your GPS, it will continually route you back and forth around the lake forever. I'm sure many pizza delivery drivers have figured that out already.

bryanb wrote: Mon Sep 30, 2019 5:37 pmI think that's kind of what happened here too...didn't Jonsey start his telnet BBS first only to have Pinback and Flack proceed to start their own? So you went from a situation where there was one BBS, one Sysop, and two potential users to one where there were three BBSes, three Sysops, and no users.

When I realized that was the case and what I had done, I shut mine down. I'm not a great user, but I'm a worse sysop.

bryanb wrote: Mon Sep 30, 2019 5:37 pm but if anyone has some fake names, locations, addresses, and phone numbers to suggest I'd love to hear them.

I'd suggest 1060 W Addison St, Chicago, IL 60613, but anyone who's seen The Blues Brothers knows that's Wrigley field.

Gary Settle
1426-A Columbia Pike, Arlington, Virginia 22204
Telephone: 703-845-6300
(This is the name of the Superintendemt of the State Police (whose office is in Richmond), the address and phone number are the Arlington office for State Police Division 7.)

Kathleen Sawyer
4700 Bureau Rd S, Terre Haute, IN 47802, 812-244-4400
3000 Old 75 Hwy, Butner, NC 27509, 919-575-5000
3600 Guard Rd, Lompoc, CA 93436, 805-736-4154
(Kathleen Sawyer is the head of the Bureau of Prisons, and these are federal prisons in those cities.)

Tdarcos wrote: Tue Oct 01, 2019 1:15 pm I'd suggest 1060 W Addison St, Chicago, IL 60613, but anyone who's seen The Blues Brothers knows that's Wrigley field.

Wow, that's a really fun little piece of trivia, Paul! Thanks for bringing it to us!

Flack wrote: Tue Oct 01, 2019 7:29 am I typically use my sister's birth date, which is close to mine and a real date so it's easy to remember.

I like this idea especially considering I actually do remember the birthday of my favorite sister. The downside to this is you know the two of you will end up being listed as twins in some database somewhere and you never know how that could affect you somewhere down the line.

Flack wrote: Tue Oct 01, 2019 7:29 am As for addresses, I tend to use 9001 NW 23rd street in Oklahoma City. As a kid, I remember the Blues Brothers used 1060 W. Addison as their address (which is actually Wrigley Field). I wanted to come up with something similar that I could remember, and so 9001 NW 23rd is right in the middle of a lake near my old house. It has an added bit of fun -- if you're actually in the area and enter that address into your GPS, it will continually route you back and forth around the lake forever. I'm sure many pizza delivery drivers have figured that out already.

Great ideas here! Do you mind if I borrow the 9001 NW 23rd Street address? We could be virtual roomies! I can remember some news coverage about some guy's address totally breaking Google Maps for some odd reason so if I could find that again that might be worth considering too. For cities, anything with Butte in the name seems like a good idea. I suppose 666 Park Avenue and 1599 Pennsylvania Avenue would be too obviously fake for addresses.

Flack wrote: Tue Oct 01, 2019 7:29 am When I realized that was the case and what I had done, I shut mine down. I'm not a great user, but I'm a worse sysop.

I'd really like us to reach the point where each of us could have an independent telnet BBS that could have a lot of users, but we're just not quite there yet. I think we'll have to breach the 263 simultaneous user mark to make it happen.

I don't really have the Sysop bug any more because my own dialup BBS wasn't particularly successful. I never had a dedicated phone line for it so I'd have to tell people when they could call. Some would inevitably call when the BBS wasn't set up while others would forget to call when they said they were going to call. This wasn't a good system, but as a result I do have a lot of sympathy with Don Rogers' difficulties booking guests who will actually show up. I did have a lot of fun messing around with Remote Access though. BBS software in general was a lot of fun to use.

This is pathetic, but I do sometimes have fantasies in which I live through the BBS era with unlimited funds at my disposal. Thus, I could effortlessly set up my own hundred node MajorBBS mega system and also call out to any board I wanted to across the country and around the world. It's interesting how my idea of heaven could easily turn into someone else's hell. "Permanently trapped in the world of BBSes, John Picardie has no choice but to read the same Fidonet flame wars multiple times on multiple systems, while ever yearning for some sort of escape."

Tdarcos wrote: Tue Oct 01, 2019 1:15 pm I'd suggest 1060 W Addison St, Chicago, IL 60613, but anyone who's seen The Blues Brothers knows that's Wrigley field.

Great idea!

Tdarcos wrote: Tue Oct 01, 2019 1:15 pm Gary Settle
1426-A Columbia Pike, Arlington, Virginia 22204
Telephone: 703-845-6300
(This is the name of the Superintendemt of the State Police (whose office is in Richmond), the address and phone number are the Arlington office for State Police Division 7.)

Maybe not a great idea! Couldn't impersonating a person employed in the area of law enforcement get me into some kind of legal trouble? I mean you're the expert here, but this makes me a little uncomfortable.

Tdarcos wrote: Tue Oct 01, 2019 1:15 pm Kathleen Sawyer
4700 Bureau Rd S, Terre Haute, IN 47802, 812-244-4400
3000 Old 75 Hwy, Butner, NC 27509, 919-575-5000
3600 Guard Rd, Lompoc, CA 93436, 805-736-4154
(Kathleen Sawyer is the head of the Bureau of Prisons, and these are federal prisons in those cities.)

Maybe not a great idea! Couldn't impersonating an employee of the federal government get me into some kind of legal trouble? I do like Butner as a city name, though, so thanks for that!

For phone number, I was thinking I might use one of those free horror hotlines, if any are still up. Do any Sysops still use call back verification? If so, they'd better be prepared to DIAL EVIL! That's 1-800-DIAL-EVL, folks.

bryanb wrote: Tue Oct 01, 2019 4:04 pm I suppose 666 Park Avenue and 1599 Pennsylvania Avenue would be too obviously fake for addresses.

Well you'll love this one, as it's a real address, and you can't get any lower than this.

Zero King Street, Alexandria VA 22314

It's the address of the Robinson Terminal, where the Washington Post (which owns it) gets their newsprint delivered when shipped.by barge up the Potomac River.

Tdarcos wrote: Tue Oct 01, 2019 4:24 pm Well you'll love this one, as it's a real address, and you can't get any lower than this.

Zero King Street, Alexandria VA 22314

It's the address of the Robinson Terminal, where the Washington Post (which owns it) gets their newsprint delivered when shipped.by barge up the Potomac River.

You're right -- I do love it! Could I possibly combine Zero King Street with Butner, NC? Or maybe I'll need multiple fake addresses, just in case one gets burned.

No one cares about Butner so you should be good.

Someone once suggested "Dog Natas", as a potential login name asi it is "Saran God" spelled backward. Especially appropriate for Christian-themed BBSs.

Anyone remember how I actually spent $25 to register the name "Tensin A. Darcos" as a ficticious name with the State of Maryland? Many places do registrations at the County level, (Texas, Virginia and California are three I know of), but Maryland and Colorado register them at the State level.

But if you go to Wikipedia's List of United States federal prisons you'll see a list of dozens of prisons, Federal Correction Centers, and Federal Camps (the names define security levels, randing from ADX's (the equivalent of a SuperMax prison, reserver for the worst of the worst), all the at down to very minimum security facilities without even fencing.

Either the Wikipedia articles for each facility have their address or the Bureau of Prisons web page for that facility does. There's a federal prison or similar facility in almost every state. But not always. When Lenny Bruce got busted on an obscenity charge sometime in the '50s in the Territory of Hawaii, he was sent to serve out his sentence at the FCI at Terminal Island, near Long Beach/San Pedro in California.

A few fictitious addresses to choose from (via Quora). (I removed some of the instantly recognizable ones. Nobody's going to believe 1313 Mockingbird Lane.)

Doc Brown (Back to the Future)
1640 Riverside Drive, Hill Valley, California

Buffy Summers (Buffy the Vampire Slayer)
1630 Revello Drive, Sunnydale, CA

Cheers
84 Beacon Street, Boston, MA

The Huxtables (The Cosby Show)
10 Stigwood Avenue, New York City

Griffin Family (Family Guy)
31 Spooner Street, Quahog, Rhode Island

Tanner Family (Full House)
1882 Gerard Street, San Francisco, California

Jon Arbuckle (Garfield)
711 Maple Street, USA

The Dursleys (Harry Potter)
4 Privet Drive, Little Whinging, Surrey, UK

Sirius Black (Harry Potter)
12 Grimmauld Place, London, UK

Taylor Family (Home Improvement)
510 Glenview, Detroit, Michigan

Ricardo Family (I Love Lucy)
Apartment 4A & 3D, 623 East 68th Street, New York, New York

Bundy Family (Married... with Children)
9764 Jeopardy Lane, Chicago, Illinois

The Munsters
1313 Mockingbird Lane, Mockingbird Heights, USA

Conners (Roseanne)
714 Delaware, Lanford IL

Jerry Seinfeld (Seinfeld)
Apartment 5A, 129 West 81st Street, New York, New York

Clark Kent (Superman)
344 Clinton St., Apt. 3B, Metropolis, USA

Fox Mulder (The X-Files)
2630 Hegal Place, Apt. 42, Alexandria, Virginia, 23242

Dana Scully (The X-Files)
3170 W. 53 Rd. #35, Annapolis, Maryland

Xavier Institute for Higher Learning (X-Men)
1407 Graymalkin Lane, Salem Center, New York

Jizaboz wrote: Tue Oct 01, 2019 6:19 pm No one cares about Butner so you should be good.

Do you happen to know if Butner pronounced Butt-ner or Beut-ner?

THE
HOPING FOR BUTT-NER
BRYAN B.

Tdarcos wrote: Wed Oct 02, 2019 6:38 am Someone once suggested "Dog Natas", as a potential login name asi it is "Saran God" spelled backward. Especially appropriate for Christian-themed BBSs.

When you've got a name as awesome as Saran God, you don't even need to spell it backwards. I was also considering Kash Hoggy as my new BBS name in honor of a murdered journalist, but that might be a little disrespectful. Plus MBS probably already uses it on all the Saudi BBSes.

Tdarcos wrote: Wed Oct 02, 2019 6:38 am But if you go to Wikipedia's List of United States federal prisons you'll see a list of dozens of prisons, Federal Correction Centers, and Federal Camps (the names define security levels, randing from ADX's (the equivalent of a SuperMax prison, reserver for the worst of the worst), all the at down to very minimum security facilities without even fencing.

Either the Wikipedia articles for each facility have their address or the Bureau of Prisons web page for that facility does. There's a federal prison or similar facility in almost every state. But not always. When Lenny Bruce got busted on an obscenity charge sometime in the '50s in the Territory of Hawaii, he was sent to serve out his sentence at the FCI at Terminal Island, near Long Beach/San Pedro in California.

Interesting ideas here. When you write to a prisoner, I don't think you generally include a cell number, but it would be awesome to put a cell number on the apartment number address line during the BBS signup process. Or maybe I just need to find a prison-themed apartment building that calls apartments cells.

Flack wrote: Wed Oct 02, 2019 8:00 am A few fictitious addresses to choose from (via Quora). (I removed some of the instantly recognizable ones. Nobody's going to believe 1313 Mockingbird Lane.)

This is an absolutely phenomenal list -- thanks so much! This is definitely the best forum on the Internet for building alternative identities...you and TDarcos totally came through for me here. I now have absolutely no excuse for not setting up on account on every stock Synchronet board accessible via telnet.